Imaginary Friends

[richardclank]

Why is it not okay for adults to have imaginary friends?

[Queen K]

Adults do.

They're all on facebook and are too busy for real time friendships. So they hit "like" on everything and imagine what it would be like if all these people were in real time.

Why do you ask?

[richardclank]

Facebook stopped being relevant 10 years ago and is for old people who like to pretend they're computer savvy. I mean an invisible friend to whom one can speak; please see how Hobbes interacts with Calvin.

[Queen K]

Mmm'ok, I like Calvin and Hobbes. And yes, the tiger is very real to Calvin, real enough.

Why not have an imaginary friend like Hobbes? Maybe it's good for some people?

[Bpeep]

Lots of them do.
They named him God.

[Dizzy1]

Adults do.

They're all on facebook and are too busy for real time friendships. So they hit "like" on everything and imagine what it would be like if all these people were in real time.

Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with those friends that you can't always be with in "real time" - nothing to do with imagination.

[Queen K]

Yes, I agree, it's all in the facebook threads. But some people are imaginary as in, "friended" but not met.

Back to our RichardClank, I see no reason not to have imaginary friends as long as they are not telling you to do things anti-social.

[richardclank]

Back to our RichardClank, I see no reason not to have imaginary friends as long as they are not telling you to do things anti-social.

What's wrong with being anti-social?

[Queen K]

Back to our RichardClank, I see no reason not to have imaginary friends as long as they are not telling you to do things anti-social.

What's wrong with being anti-social?

Nothing as long as you're only being alone and not lonely. Two different things.
And, not hurting anyone else.

[Loki2u]

Why is it not okay for adults to have imaginary friends?

Who said it wasn't?

[Even Steven]

Voices in my head tell me it's ok to have imaginary friends, so I'm sure it's fine.

[What_the]

My imaginary friends tell me to do naughty things.

[Queen K]

That does it.
I'm getting one.
How does one go about this?

[youjustcomplain]

Why is it not okay for adults to have imaginary friends?

It's a strange question. Why do you ask this question with the presumption that it's not ok?

why is it not ok for children to play outside?

I think you'll need to provide some context for anyone to really address your question.
If you meant the question to be without context, then good look getting what you want out of it. :)

I'd say that imaginary friends are fine, so long as they don't have any affect on others in a negative way. In other words, enjoy your imaginary friends all you want, but keep them in your own head.

[fvkasm2x]

Why is it not okay for adults to have imaginary friends?

I'll bite.

The concept of imaginary friends usually involves the notion of pretending someone is there, someone is actually doing things with you and talking to you. They're invented for various reasons like: boredom, coping, developmental issues, etc...

While imagination is amazing and a vastly under utilized concept today with both children and adults... once we "grow up" we realize that we don't need imaginary friends.

- You can just talk to yourself in your head. You don't need to speak out loud to a pretend person

- Isn't socialization and real friends more beneficial than made up ones?

- If it's to cure boredom, there are tons of hobbies and activities available to you as an adult, that might not be available to a small child

- As an adult, you should already know how to solve the issues an imaginary friend is utilized for (boredom, coping, developmental reasons)

- As a child, talking out loud to oneself isn't viewed as abnormal. As an adult, it usually signifies mental issues

As an adult, it just causes a lot of issues. Drop Dead Fred is a good example of that!